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INVESTIGATION OF HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS

WITH TWISTED TAPE INSERT USING CFD MODELING ON
NEWTONIAN FLUID WITH TWO VARIATION OF TWIST
RATIO











MUHAMAD FARID BIN ABU BAKAR










CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
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INVESTIGATION OF HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS WITH
TWISTED TAPE INSERT USING CFD MODELING ON NEWTONIAN FLUID
WITH TWO VARIATION OF TWIST RATIO






MUHAMAD FARID BIN ABU BAKAR






A thesis submitted as part-requirement
for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering in
Chemical Engineering (Honours)



Department of Chemical Engineering
Curtin University of Technology


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2010














I declare that this thesis entitled Investigation of Heat Transfer Characteristics with
Twisted Tape Insert Using CFD Modeling on Newtonian Fluid with Two Variation of
Twist Ratio is the result of my own research except as cited in the references. The
thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in
candidature of any other degree.




Signature :
Name : Muhamad Farid Bin Abu Bakar
Date : 29 November 2010








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I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my
opinion this thesis is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the
Final Year Research Project of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering
in Chemical Engineering (Honours)








Signature :
Name of Supervisor : Dr. Perumal Kumar
Date : 29 November 2010









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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This Research Project (thesis) on I nvestigation of Heat Transfer
Characteristics with Twisted Tape I nsert Using CFD Modeling on Newtonian
Fluid with Two Variation of Twist Ratio had been completed as one of the
requirement to fulfil the Bachelor Degree of Chemical Engineering, Curtin
University of Technology, Malaysia.

First and foremost, I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, Dr. Perumal
Kumar, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final
level enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject.

Besides that, I would like to thank Curtin University of Technology for
providing me with a good environment and facilities which aided in completion of
this project. My deepest appreciation also goes to Ms. Tan Yin Ling, as the Research
Project adviser, Dr. Yudi Samyudia, the Dean School of Engineering and Science as
well as Mr. Freddie Panau, the Head of Chemical Engineering Department for their
encouragement and endorsement.

I would like to grab this opportunity to also thank my family, Abu Bakar Bin
Hussien (Father), Hurshad Bibi Binti Abdul Hamid (Mother), my siblings Abdul
Khaliq, Mohd Faris and Mohd Firdaus, my peers as well as Jasmine Andria for their
love, patience, understanding, motivation and support thought this thesis.

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in
any respect during the compilation of this thesis.





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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



There are many efforts in finding the means and ways to enhance the heat
transfer coefficient in a heat exchanger. Through some of these findings, a passive
heat transfer enchantment (HTE) technique with the use of twisted tape insert was
invented. From the past decade as early as 1896, researches are finding ways to
understand and improve the twisted tape model because of its potential in saving
energy as well as its HTE effectiveness.

This paper describes the use of 3 different models of twisted tape insert
namely classic, perforated and notched with varying the twist (Y= length of 1 pitch /
pipe diameter) of (Y=2.94) and (Y=4.41). These models are simulated in a 1.8 m
horizontal pipe using the RNG version of k- turbulence model proposed by Launder
and Spalding. The ultimate thermo-hydraulic performance is the key issue in this
present work. The conclusion on which design has the best performance will only be
determined after studying the models on a laminar and turbulent regime. This
study/simulation will be conducted using commercial software for CFD code
(FLUENT 6). It was noted that the performance for a twisted tape is far better than a
plain tube. For a Newtonian fluid (water), the simulation reveals that the notched
twisted tape insert with a twist ratio of (Y=2.94) proves to the best enhancement
device for heat transfer augmentation. It seems that the smaller the twist ratio the
better the thermo-hydraulic performance but at the risk of increasing the pressure
drop across the tube.

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Therefore, this notched (Y=2.94) twisted tape insert is recommended for
implementation in the heat exchanger industry whereby the use of this tape insert
would definitely be beneficial as it provides economic advantage as well as design
advantage in terms of size reduction in fabricating a new heat exchanger.



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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST OF FIGURES x
LIST OF ABBREVIATION xii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xiii


CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background 1
1.2 Palm Oil in Malaysia - At Glance 3
1.3 Waste Utilization 5
1.4 Aims and Objectives 6
1.5 Expected Outcomes 6
1.6 Scope of Study 7

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 History of Palm Oil in Malaysia A Review 10
2.1.1 Characteristics of Palm Oil Fruit 11
2.1.2 Planted Area of Palm Oil in Malaysia 13
2.1.3 Production Growth of Palm Oil in Malaysia 14
2.1.4 World Contribution in Palm Oil 15
2.2 Palm Oil Mill Processing 15
2.3 Characteristics of the Waste of Palm Oil Mill 20
2.3.1 Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) 20
2.3.2 Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) 22
2.3.3 Decanter Solid (DS) 23
2.4 Impacts of Waste to the Environment and the Disadvantages of Existing
Treatment Systems 24
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2.5 Demand Drivers for Waste Management 25
2.5.1 Rules and Regulations Undergone Wastes 26
2.5.2 The Improvement of Waste Management 26
2.5.3 Green House Gas Emission 26
2.5.4 Kyoto Protocol 28
2.5.5 Clean Development Mechanism 30
2.5.6 Carbon Credit (Certified Emission Reduction) 31
2.6 Research on Biomass Utilization 31
2.7 Anaerobic Digestion Process 35
2.8 Biogas Definition 40
2.8.1 Biogas Composition 40
2.8.2 Characteristics of Biogas 41
2.8.3 Biogas Utilization 41
2.8.4 Factor affecting the biogas formation 42
2.9 Digesters 43


CHAPTER THREE: EXPERIMENT AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 Apparatus 45
3.1.1 Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry 46
3.1.2 Gas Flow Meter 49
3.1.3 Draeger Tube 49
3.2 Density Calculation 50
3.3 The Experimental Methodology 52
3.4 Preparation on the reactor tank and water bath 52
3.5 Anaerobic Digestion Experiment 53

CHAPTER FOUR: EXPERIMENT RESULTS

4.1 GC-MS Plotted Graph on EFB/DS = 50:50 57
4.2 GC-MS Plotted Graph on POME/EFB/DS = 50:25:25 58
4.3 Various Biomass Mixture Results 59
4.4 Discussion of the Experiment (EFB/DS and POME/EFB/DS) 60
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4.5 Discussion of all the biomass mixtures 61
4.5.1 Pure Biomass (No. 1-3) 62
4.5.2 Mixture Biomass with Liquid Presence (No. 4-8) 63
4.5.3 Mixture Biomass without Liquid Presence (No.9) 64

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusions 66
5.2 Recommendation 67

NOMENCLATURE 69
REFERENCES 70


LIST OF TABLES







LIST OF FIGURES